Echoes Of The Past
by BeingASupernaturalWolfGirl
Summary: Echo, Paul, Priya and Tony have, with Adele's help, settled into new lives in the small town of Parker, South Dakota. Paul is able to love Echo once more, but it may take time. Boyd 2.0 and Rossum are rebuidling dollhouses, and Alpha is still on the loose.
1. Day 1095 - Echo

_**Day 1095 - Echo**_

It had been one thousand and ninety five days since Topher had brought Paul back from the dead. It's been two years and seven months since Topher "fixed" Paul's brain, giving him back the ability to love me as he once did. I just never realized it was going to take so long for Paul to start feeling it again, despite Topher's warnings that it could take time for the neurons to start firing again. Some days, it feels like a century. But three years have passed, and despite our location and jobs, not much has changed. A sigh escapes my lips as I stand at our kitchen counter, idly chopping up vegetables for dinner. Thanks to Adele and her connections, Paul, Priya, Tony and I have completely new lives here in Parker, South Dakota. Priya and Tony have married since we moved here, and Paul and I have the paperwork that says we are married as well.

How I wish that was true. How I wish he felt anything for me but the same need to protect me and friendship that he has felt for the past three years. I want nothing more than for him to love me once more. It's complicated, though, the way I love him. I've never felt anything like what I feel for him before. I'm no saint, of course, and Paul's not exactly one to show emotion – he's what most people consider 'prickly'. But I see such a different side of him, and when he smiles at me, it's like the whole world lights up for just that tiny amount of time. Sometimes I see him look at me, and I think maybe his brain is starting to find that bond, to find that tiny thread in his head that loves me and it's starting to work, but then it's gone, just that quick. Maybe it will never happen. Maybe I'm destined to just move through life loving a man who will never return the emotion. Sure, we share a bed, a home, and a life together. But sleeping beside someone every night, feeling their heart beating under your ear – well, it's hard when you want so much more from them than they can give.

Pain strikes hard in my head, causing me to gasp and drop the knife on the counter. The pain almost cripples me, threatening to send me to my knees right there in the kitchen. I'm used to it by now. Although Topher can't find anything on the scans he has done of my brain, I am sure the headaches are caused by whatever Alpha did inside my head. Having thirty-eight different personalities in one brain has to have some repercussions, after all. I shut my eyes against the light in the house, grabbing the counter with both hands. Our house isn't that big, but when I have a headache, it seems to take forever to get to our bedroom. I have to hold onto things as I shuffle my way down the hallway and into our room, where we always keep the shades shut and the curtains drawn, simply because of what's happening to me right now.

I sink into our bed, my pillow covering my eyes as I let out a slow, even breath. I wish I could be like a normal person and simply take a pill to dull the ache in my head, but the only thing that works is to wait it out. Having Paul here would help – when I get my headaches he'll just lay down beside me and hold me, and having my head on his chest, hearing his heart beating beneath my ear – well, it helps. I don't know why… maybe it's just knowing he's alive and well and there for me. It calms me for some reason. Letting out another slow breath, I close my eyes again, hoping Paul will get home from work soon.


	2. Day 1095 - Paul

_**Day 1095 – Paul**_

"_Crossing lines, small crimes  
Taking back what is mine.."_

_10 Years – "Fix Me"_

I drop Tony off at his house before heading back to the station in the patrol car. He's proven to be a good friend to me, as well as a good person to work with. His military background combined with my FBI training means the tiny town of Parker, South Dakota has a police force that could easily handle anything that drunken farmers could throw at us – which isn't much. Mostly we take reports on stolen cattle and farm equipment, and usually on a Friday or Saturday night we have to break up a drunken brawl at Kelley's bar. Basically, it's the easiest, most boring job I've ever had.

As I step into the station to finish up what little paperwork is left from a non eventful shift, my thoughts turn to Echo. She didn't have to remind me what the significance of today was when we got ready for work this morning. How could I forget this date? Three years ago today, Topher Brink had brought me back from the dead. While I would be forever grateful to him for giving me my life back, I still felt a sense of resentment. It was because of him that I have active architecture in my head that could be used against me if the right technology was once more implemented, and, worse yet, it was the reason Echo was unhappy. Oh, she never admits it out loud, but I can see the sadness in her eyes every time she looks at me. Those brown eyes of hers, they tell you everything you want to know about what she's feeling inside. She wants me to love her again, the way I used to. Hell, I want to love her that way again. The memories are still there, of course, and even though Topher said he fixed the part of my brain that knows I love her – well, I'm not feeling it yet. I wouldn't put it past the little geek to lie to Echo and I about it. He told her it might take awhile to 'wake up' – but it's been almost three years. Haven't we suffered enough?

I want to give Echo everything she wants from me. I want to love her, I want to _make_ love to her, instead of just denying her every time she kisses me and it escalates from there. But I can't. It wouldn't be fair to either of us. No, when we're together for the first time, it will be because we're truly in love with each other. The last woman I thought I was in love with – Mellie – well, she'd been a lie, an implant from the Dollhouse sent to spy on me. And before that.. my ex-wife. And the 'ex' in front of wife shows everyone just how big a failure that relationship was. I don't want to fail with Echo. I want it to last. I want to love her.

With a sigh I look around the office, reaching out and flipping off my computer. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything right now, no matter how hard I tried. Worry about Echo grips my chest, tightening for a moment as I stand, grabbing my jacket before I go out the door, shutting and locking the door behind me.

It only takes me three minutes to get home, and I know something is wrong as soon as I open the front door. Echo's headaches have been getting progressively worse, and Topher hasn't been able to find anything wrong with her brain scans. Cursing Alpha's existence under my breath, I shut the front door quietly and move almost silently towards the bedroom. If Alpha had simply disappeared and never played around in Echo's brain, she wouldn't be having these headaches in the first place.

I enter the bedroom quietly, slipping off my shoes and sliding onto the bed beside her as gently as I can. A moment later, and I have her thin frame folded into my arms, my lips kissing the top of her head gently as she curls herself into me, her head coming to rest on my chest. I know that even if I never regain my feelings for her, even if that part of my brain never 'wakes up', I will always be here for her. She deserves that from me.


End file.
